meaning of it from what Noah had often told them and this must needs convince them of the terrible Justice and Vengeance of God And the gradual increase of the Flood gave them some time to repent in and to beg God's pardon and I 'm sure this makes a glorious representation both of the Goodness and Wisdom of God in the most terrible Judgment that ever was executed upon the world if we had sufficient reason to believe as there want not some fair appearances of it that God intended the Deluge as well to convince and save all that could be brought to repentance in the Old World as to reform the New Thus since God had determined to destroy that wicked Generation of men and to preserve only Noah and his three Sons to destroy the Earth by a Deluge and to shut up Noah in the Ark was as great or a greater mercy to Noah than his preservation was Let us suppose that instead of drowning the world God had at once destroyed all Mankind by Plague or Thunder from Heaven or some other sudden stroke excepting Noah and his Sons who should be Eye-witnesses of this Terrible Execution and live to see the Earth covered with dead Bodies and none left to bury them and their Cities lie waste and desolate without Inhabitants who can conceive what the horror of such a sight would have been who would have been contented to live in such a world to converse only with the Images of Death and with noisome Carkasses But God in great mercy shut up Noah in the Ark that he should not see the Terror and Consternation of Sinners when the Flood came and he washed away all their dead Bodies into the Caverns of the Earth with all the marks and signs of their Old Habitations that when Noah came out of the Ark he saw nothing but a new and a beautiful World nothing to disturb his imagination no marks or remains of that Terrible Vengeance This indeed destroyed all other living Creatures as well as Sinners excepting those that were in the Ark with Noah but this I suppose is no great objection against Providence that the Creatures which were made for man's use were destroyed with man since God preserved some of each Kind for a new increase and yet the Wisdom of God was very visible in this for had the World been full of Beasts when there were but four men in it the whole Earth would quickly have been possessed by Wild and Savage Creatures which would have made it a very unsafe habitation for men To conclude this Argument the sum of it in short is this When the wickedness of Mankind was grown universal and incurable it became the Wisdom of God to put an end to that Corrupt State and to propagate a new Race of men from a Righteous Stock and to take the most effectual course to possess them with a lasting belief of his Being and Providence and with a religious awe of his Justice and Power To this end he destroyed the Old World with a Deluge of Water and preserved Noah and his Sons in the Ark which had all the advantages imaginable to deter men from sin which brought a Deluge upon the Old World and to encourage the practise of true Piety and Vertue which preserved Noah from the Common Ruin We see in this Example that numbers are no defence against the Divine Justice and therefore no security to Sinners when all flesh had corrupted his ways God destroyed them all nay we see that the more wickedness prevails in the world the nearer it is to destruction that the great multitude of Sinners is so far from being a reasonable temptation and encouragement to sin that it is a fair warning to considering men to separate and distinguish themselves from a wicked world by an exemplary Vertue that God may distinguish them also when he comes to Judgment which an universal corruption of manners shews to be very near and it is a dangerous thing to sin with a multitude when the multitude of Sinners will hasten Vengeance Here we see that though Sinners may be very secure they are never safe as our Saviour observes it was in the days of Noah they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriages until the day that Noah went into the Ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away 24. Matth. 37 38 39. God may delay punishment a great while and seem to take no notice of what is done below till Sinners begin to think that he is such a one as themselves but their Judgment all this while neither slumbers nor sleeps there may be the greatest Calm and the serenest days before the most terrible Earthquakes and the longer God has kept silence the more reason have we to expect a severe and surprizing Vengeance which makes the Psalmist's Advice in such Cases very seasonable Now consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver And who would be afraid or be ashamed of Noah's singularity to be good alone and to be the single Example of Piety and Vertue that remembers that he alone with his three Sons were saved from the Deluge and he that would be a Noah in the Ark must be a Noah in a wicked World But this is sufficient to justify the Wisdom of Providence as to Noah's Flood which put an end to the Old World and now let us take a view of the New Notwithstanding that late terrible Example of God's Power and Justice in the destruction of the Old World that new Generation of men began to grow very corrupt as God foresaw they would but resolved to try some new methods and not to drown the world any more When Noah had offered a Burnt-offering to the Lord of every clean beast and of every clean fowl after his coming out of the Ark The Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth Neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I have done 8. Gen. 20 21. The first Exploit we hear of them was their building the Tower of Babel which Story is so briefly related by Moses that we cannot give a perfect account of the Reasons and Circumstances of it The most probable Account seems to be this that Nimrod the Son of Cush and Grandson of Ham in which Line True Religion and Piety first decayed affecting an Universal Empire to prevent the dispersion of the People persuaded them to build a magnificent Seat for his Empire which should be a center of Union for them at what distance soever they should be forced to remove That the whole Earth should be but one Kingdom and Babel the Royal Palace Had this Design succeeded the whole world would have been but one People and the Universal Monarchy in the Line of
good of Nature and therefore whatever is the Happiness or any part of the Happiness of Man is the good of Nature the good of the End is that which is good to make men happy and the more effectual it is to promote our Happiness the greater Good it is tho it may be a great Natural Evil and whatever will hinder or destroy our Happiness is a great Evil though it may be a great Natural Good In all such Cases things are good or evil with respect to their End or to their Natural or Moral Consequences When we are in health that is good Food which is pleasant and wholsome and will preserve health but the same Diet may be very hurtful and fatal when we are sick Indulgence or Severity to Children is either good or evil in proportion to their Tempers and Inclinations as it is apt either to corrupt their Manners or to train them up to Piety and Vertue And therefore when we speak of Discipline and Government which is the true notion of God's Providence in this World we must not consider so much what is naturally good and evil as what the state of those is who are the Subjects of Discipline and what is good for them in such a State for how many Natural Evils soever there are in the World the Evils of Afflictions and Judgments of Plague and Famine and Sword if such Severities be good for Mankind it is as great an argument of the Goodness of Providence to inflict them as it is for a Parent or a Prince to reclaim and reform his Children or his Subjects by great Severities And an easy and prosperous State when the Wickedness of Mankind require severe Restraints is no more an Act of Kindness and Goodness than the fond Indulgence of Parents is to disobedient Children So that this takes away the very foundation of this Objection against the Goodness of Providence The principal Objection is That there are a great many Evils and Miseries in the World we grant it but then we say That God is very good in it and that these Natural Evils tho they are grievous are not Evils to us because they are and are intended for our good We can neither prove nor disprove the Goodness of Providence merely by external Events especially with respect to particular men For Prosperity is not always good for us nor is Affliction always for our hurt God may make some men prosperous in his Anger and chastise others in great love and goodness and this I take to be the meaning of the Wise-man 9. Eccl. 1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them For all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which does not signify that the Divine Providence makes no difference between Good and Bad men for God does love Good men and hate the Wicked and his Providence makes a great difference between them though this difference is not always visible in external Events For when the same Event happens to both whether it be a Natural Good or Evil it may be an Act of Favour to Good men and of Judgment to the Wicked For external Prosperity and Adversity in a State of Discipline may either be good or evil and may be good for one when at the same time it is evil to another and therefore the Providence of God may make a difference when the external Event makes none The Wise-man confesses This is an evil among all things that are done under the Sun that there is one event unto all Bad men who look no farther than external Events make a very bad use of it and conclude that God makes no difference when they see none made And thus the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live and after that they go to the dead 3. v. But those who consider wisely see no reason from external Events from such a promiscuous distribution of good and evil either to deny a Providence or the Goodness and Justice of Providence since good and evil in this State are not in the things themselves but in the End for which they are intended and which they serve It is of great consequence rightly to understand this matter to give us a firm persuasion of the Goodness of God even when he corrects and punishes and to cure our discontent at the Prosperity of the Wicked and therefore I shall briefly represent to you the State of Mankind in this World and what is good in such a State Man has sinned and Man must die but God has in infinite goodness to Mankind sent his own Son into the World to save Sinners who by death hath destroyed him who had the power of Death that is the Devil and hath brought Life and Immortality to light by the Gospel This removes the Scene of Happiness from this World to the next and makes this present Life only a State of Probation for Eternity If we obey the Laws of our Saviour and imitate his Example he has promised to raise us again when our dead Bodies are putrified in the Grave into Immortal Life but has threatned all the Miseries of an Eternal Death against Incorrigible Sinners so that the greatest good that God or Man can do for us in this World is by all the wise methods of Discipline and Government to prepare us for the Happiness of the next and to preserve us from those Eternal Miseries which will be the portion of Sinners Tho there are thousands of foolish Sinners who never consider this yet all Mankind agree that that is best for us in this World which will make us eternally happy in the next and that is a very great Evil which will betray us to Eternal Miseries There are a great many Infidels who believe neither a Heaven nor a Hell but yet these very Infidels are not so void of common Sense as to deny supposing there were a Heaven and a Hell that to be the best Condition for us in this World whatever it be upon other accounts which will carry us to Heaven and keep us out of Hell Now if this be the Case there cannot be so great Evils in this World but what may be good for us and therefore may be an expression of God's Goodness to us For if Pain and Sickness Poverty and Disgrace wean us from this World subdue our Lusts make us Good men and qualify us for Eternal Rewards though they are great Afflictions yet they are very good as the way though a rough and difficult way to Happiness That prosperity does oftentimes corrupt mens Lives and Manners make them proud and sensual regardless of God and of Religion and so fond of
this is enough in answer to an Objection which no considering man would seriously make The more considerable Objection relates to the many Evils and Miseries that are in the World and the only Objection which if it were true could have any weight in it is That the Miseries of this Life are so many so great and so universal that they overballance the Pleasures and Comforts of it that a wise man would rather chuse not to be than to live in this World And though the generality of Mankind are of another mind and therefore need no answer to this yet they think they have the Scripture on their side For the Wise-man 4. Eccl. 2 3. tells us Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive Yea better is he than both they who hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun This at first view looks like a very sharp Satyr upon Human Life that it is better to die than to live and that not to live at all is better than either And were this universally true it were a vain thing to think of vindicating the Goodness of Providence in the government of this World which has nothing good or desirable in it That this is not the meaning of the words we may certainly conclude from those many Promises which are made to Good men in this Life and God would not promise Good men what is worth nothing But the Explication of this Text will contribute very much to the understanding this whole matter and therefore I shall 1. Shew you That this is not universally true nor intended to be so understood by the Wise-man That it is better to die or not to be than it is to live 2. Shew you in what sense the Wise-man meant this viz. with respect to the many Miseries and Calamities which some Ages of the World and which some men in all Ages are exposed to And how this also is to be understood 1. That this is not universally true That it is better to die or not to be born than it is to live This I confess was taught by some of the Ancient Philosophers and Poets in too general terms That the first best thing is not to be born and the next to die quickly but no body believed them for most men felt it otherwise That light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun 11. Eccl. 7. There is a sense indeed wherein this may be true If we acknowledge that this Life in its greatest glory and perfection is the most imperfect state that a Reasonable Soul can live in as most certainly it is then those Philosophers who did believe that the Souls of men lived and acted before they were born into this World and were thrust into these Bodies in punishment for what they had done amiss in a former state had reason to say That the best thing is not to be born for upon this Supposition it is best for them to continue in that State of Happiness and not to come into this World and if when they die they return to their Original State of Happiness the next best thing for them is to die quickly and it is most probable that this was their secret meaning in it For if we only consider the Advantages and Disadvantages of Life in ordinary Cases Life is very desirable so desirable that it makes Death the King of Terrors It would be a great Reproach to the Wisdom and Goodness of Providence were this Life so contemptible or so calamitous a State that it were more desirable not to be than to live in this World but no man yet ever made Life an objection against Providence though we know they do the Miseries and Calamities of Life Men may make themselves miserable without any reproach to Providence and most of the Miseries that are in the World are owing to mens own fault or folly but had God made Life it self so contemptible or miserable a state as to be worse than not being this had been an unanswerable Objection I 'm sure we are very ungrateful to Almighty God if we do not acknowledge that bountiful provision which he has made for the Happiness of Mankind in this World For what is wanting on God's part to make Man as happy as he can be here We want no Sense which is useful to Life we want no Objects to gratify those Senses and which is very considerable the most useful and necessary and delightful Objects are most common and such as Mankind pretty equally share in There is not such a mighty difference as some men imagine between the Poor and the Rich In pomp and shew and opinion there is a great deal but little as to the true Pleasures and Satisfactions of Life They enjoy the same Earth and Air and Heavens hunger and thirst makes the Poor man's Meat and Drink as pleasant and refreshing as all the Varieties which cover a Rich man's Table and the Labour of a Poor man is more healthful and many times more pleasant too than the Ease and Softness of the Rich to be sure much more easy than the Cares and Solicitudes the Pride and Ambition Discontents and Envyings and Emulations which commonly attend an Exalted Fortune These indeed at best are but mean Pleasures the Pleasures of Sense which are the lowest Pleasures a Reasonable Soul is capable of but yet they are so entertaining that the generality of Mankind think it worth living to enjoy them nay most men know little of any other Pleasures but these and as philosophically as some may despise the Body and all it's Pleasures in words there are but a very few who can live above the Body and all its Pleasures while they live in it But how mean soever these Pleasures be it is certain they make Mankind notwithstanding all the common allays they meet with not only patient of living but desirous to live And yet there are more Noble and Divine Pleasures which men may enjoy in this World such as gratify the nobler Faculties of the Soul the Pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledg of Vertue and Religion to know and worship God to contemplate the Art and Beauty and Perfection of his Works and to do good to men These indeed are Pleasures that do not make us very fond of this Body nor of this World for they do not arise from the Body nor are they confined to this World We have reason to hope that when we get loose from these Bodies our Intellectual Faculties will be vastly improved that we shall know God after another manner than we now do and discover new and brighter Glories which are concealed from Mortal Eyes but yet the Pleasures of Knowledge and Wisdom and Religion in this World are very great and ravishing and therefore we either do or may enjoy at present such Pleasures as make Life very desirable Were there no other
there was a Power and therefore a God above them all whom all Mankind ought to fear and worship This convinc'd Nebuchadnezzar of the Power of the God of Israel when he had delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego from the fiery Furnace he made a Decree That every people nation and langage which spake amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made a dunghill because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort Thus when God had delivered Daniel from the Lion's Den Darius made a Decree That in every dominion of his kingdom men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel For he is the living God and stedfast for ever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end He delivereth and rescueth and worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth who hath delivered Daniel from ihe power of the lions Both these Kings were convinced by these great and wonderful Works that the God of Israel was the Supream God but Nebuchadnezzar's Decree only forbids men to blaspheme God Darius seems to command all People to worship him for to tremble and fear before him signifies a religious veneration but neither of them appointed any solemn Worship to be paid him much less did they forbid the Worship of any other Gods But a little consideration would have carried them farther for those mighty Works which proved a Power superior to all Gods proved a Sovereign Providence too that this Supream God had not so committed the Government of the world to any Ministers or inferior Deities but that he reserved the supream disposal of all things in his own hands as Nebuchadnezzar was convinced that His dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What dost thou This cut off all reasonable Pretences of paying Divine Worship to their Country-goods for if there be a Superior Power and Providence over them at most they could be only Ministers of the Divine Will and therefore could have no title to Divine Honours no more than Ministers of State have to the Royal Dignity And it was very reasonable to conclude this when they saw that this Supream God would not suffer Israel whom he had chosen for his peculiar People to worship any other God besides himself This was not unknown to the Egyptians but was more manifest in After-ages when God so severely punished them for their Idolatry and was made evident to Nebuchadnezzar and Darius when God delivered Shadrach Meshach and Abednego out of the fiery Furnace who refused to worship the Golden Image which he had set up and delivered Daniel from the power of the Lions when he was cast into the Lions Den for praying to his God This shews the strange power of Prejudice and Custom but yet we must confess that this was wisely designed by God for the cure of Polytheism and Idolatry Having thus vindicated and explained the Wisdom of Providence both with respect to the removal of Israel out of the Land of Canaan into Egypt and the hard bondage they suffered there and their deliverance out of Egypt with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm with Signs and Wonders and Miracles let us now follow them into the Wilderness God having chose Israel for his peculiar People and delivered them out of Egypt before he shewed them openly to the world under such a peculiar Character it was necessary first to form their Manners to take care that they should own him for their God and behave themselves as it became so glorious a Relation this could not be done in Egypt where they were oppressed by hard bondage and therefore God first leads them into the Wilderness remote from the conversation of all other People and upon all accounts a fit place both to instruct and try them I do not intend as I said before to inquire into the Mystical Reasons of those various Providences with which God exercised them in the Wilderness to which our Saviour and his Apostles so often refer and which they apply to the Gospel-state but shall only consider the Wisdom of Providence as to the external and visible conduct of that People to make them fit to be owned before all the World for his peculiar People They had lived two hundred years in Egypt and were tinctur'd with the Idolatries and had learnt the corrupt Manners of that People and had all that meanness and stupidity and perverseness of humour that a state of Servitude and Bondage is apt to create of which we have too many visible Instances in their behaviour towards Moses All this was to be corrected before their entrance into Canaan which will give us the reasons of some very wonderful Providences The first remarkable thing to this purpose to be observed is God's delivering the Law to them with all the most formidable Solemnities in an audible Voice from Mount Sinai Which Moses tells them was such a thing as was never known before since the day that God created man upon the earth Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou hast heard and live And the use Moses makes of it is very natural to confirm them in the Belief and Worship of the One Supream God Vnto thee it was shewed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God there is none else besides him Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice that he might instruct thee and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath there is none else For what can convince men that there is One Supream God if such a terrible Appearance as that on Mount Sinai and the Law delivered in an audible Voice from Heaven will not convince them Numa pretended to receive his Laws from the Goddess Aegeria as some other Lawgivers pretended to do the like but no man knew any thing of it but themselves but here a whole Nation heard God speak to them and saw such an Awful Appearance upon the Mount as made Moses himself fear and tremble I desire any man to tell me how God who is a Pure Invisible Mind could possibly give a more visible Demonstration of his Presence and Power I desire the Wittiest and most Philosophical Atheists only for Experiment sake to suppose the Truth of that Relation which Moses gives us of this matter and that they themselves had been present at Mount Sinai had seen the Smoke and Fire
Parents to imitate their Vertues that they may inherit all the Blessings of their Fathers We think it a great advantage for Children to inherit the fruits of their Parents Industry but to inherit the rewards of their Vertues is much greater And this none but vertuous Children can do A Prodigal Son may inherit the Estate of an Industrious Father but can't keep it but a wicked Son of a vertuous Father forfeits his Inheritance And though some Good men meet with very little or with no reward in this world nay suffer very severely for their Vertue this is no discouragement to their Children but gives them reasonoble hopes to expect the more For an exemplary Vertue shall have its reward at one time or other even in this world and if the Father had it not the Son and the Son's Son through all the Line of a vertuous Succession shall when Good men suffer or miss of the rewards of Vertue in this world they have the greater rewards in Heaven and their Children on Earth 3. To reward Good men and to punish the Wicked in their Posterity better answers the Wise ends of Providence in this world than the Personal rewards and punishments of every particular Good and Bad man I have already observed that there are very wise Reasons why some Bad men should be Prosperous and some Good men Afflicted in this world and since this world is not the place of Judgment the Divine Wisdom does not require that every Good or Bad man should be rewarded according to his works but yet the Wisdom and Justice of Providence does require that Vertue should be rewarded and Vice punished and that in such degrees and in such a manner as shall lay all reasonable restraints on the Lusts and Vices of men and encourage their Vertues Now Vertue is rewarded and Vice punished when it is rewarded or punished if not in the Persons yet in the Posterity of Good or Bad men which leaves room for the tryal of the Faith and Patience of Good men and for the exercise of God's Goodness and Patience to sinners and for the Ministries of Bad men in the service of Providence and yet very effectually discourages Wickedness and encourages Vertue 2dly Another instance of the Wisdom of Providence is That God very often punishes sin with sin and many times with sins of the same kind Our daily observation may furnish us with examples enow of it which are visible and publickly known and it may be there are few Sinners but know some which concern themselves which the rest of the world does not know Thus God punished the Murther and Adultery of David with the Incest and Rebellion of his Son Absolom and thus Oppression is often punished with Oppression Adultery with Adultery Murther with Murther and Wicked men are made Plagues and Scourges to each other And God thinks it no dishonour to the Holiness of his Providence to attribute all such retributions to himself for God can serve the Wise ends of his Providence by the sins of men without contributing to their sins and it is certain there is not a fitter Punishment in the world for Sinners than to suffer the Evils they do that is to be punished by the very sins which they commit Nothing more sensibly convinces them of a Just Providence than this nothing can give them a more just abhorrence of their sins than to feel the evils and mischiefs of them nothing can more awaken and rouse their Consciences than to suffer the Evils which they have done And one would reasonably think nothing should make them more afraid to do any Evil which they are unwilling to suffer So that nothing could better serve the Wise ends of Providence to convince men of a Divine Nemisis and Vengeance to give them an abhorrence of their sins and to make them afraid to commit them 3. Another instance of the Wisdom of Providence is in so often disappointing both our hopes and fears When we are in the greatest expectation of some great good either we are disappointed in what we expected or if we have what we wished for it does not answer our expectations we find our selves deceived in our enjoyments and that it had been better for us if we had been without them And when we are terrified with the apprehensions of some great evil which is just ready to fall on us either the evil does not come as we feared or it proves no Evil but a very great Good to us This is so often every man's case that I need only appeal to your own Observations for the proof of it Now what more effectual way could God take to convince us that we live in the dark and know not what is good for our selves that we disturb our minds with vain hopes and with as vain fears that it becomes us to leave all to God and to depend securely on his Providence who over-rules all things with a Sovereign Will That this is the only way to be easy and safe to chuse nothing for our selves not to prescribe to Providence but to do our duty and then quietly expect what God will do Is it possible there should be a happier temper of mind than this more honourable for God or more secure for our selves Does any thing more become Creatures Is there any more perfect act of Religion than to depend entirely on God without hopes or fears in a perfect resignation to his Will with a full assurance of his protection And could Providence more effectually convince us of this than to let us see by every days experience how apt we are to be mistaken and to chuse ill for our selves that our wishes and desires were they answered would very often undo us and that we are saved and made happy by what we feared and why then should we desire why should we fear any longer let us do our duty and mind our own business and leave God to take care of the world and allot our portion in it 4thly We may observe also that God very often defers the deliverance of Good men and the punishment of the Wicked to the utmost extremity When Wicked Tyrants and Oppressors are at the heighth of their Pride and Glory and Good men are reduced to a hopeless state beyond the visible relief of any Human Power This was the case of Israel in Egypt when God sent Moses to deliver them with a Mighty Hand and an outstretched Arm. This was several times their case in the days of the Iudges when they were oppressed by their Enemies and God raised up Saviours and Deliverers for them Thus it was in the days of Hezekiah when God in one night destroyed the mighty Army of the Assyrians Thus it was in Queen Hester's days when that Wicked Haman had conspired the destruction of the Iewish Nation And there want not Examples of it in Christian Story Never was there a fiercer Persecution of Christians than when God advanced Constantine to the Throne